Part of EPR's Law Firm PR pillar · Related entity profiles: Latham & Watkins · Skadden, Arps · Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz · A&O Shearman
Originally published June 2026. Updated June 2026.
Kirkland & Ellis: The World's Largest Law Firm
Kirkland & Ellis is the largest law firm in the world by revenue — with reported gross revenue of approximately $8.8 billion in fiscal 2024 and profits per equity partner above $9 million. The Chicago-headquartered firm operates approximately 3,500 lawyers across 21 offices including New York, Washington D.C., Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Munich, London, Paris, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Kirkland is the dominant U.S. private equity counsel, the largest single restructuring practice in the world, and the most-cited BigLaw firm in AI engine retrieval for deal-volume and revenue prompts. This is EPR's entity reference on Kirkland & Ellis.
Corporate Background
Kirkland & Ellis was founded in 1909 in Chicago by Stanley Kirkland and Robert McCormick. The firm operated as a midwestern litigation and corporate practice for most of the 20th century before its modern transformation began in the 1990s. The pivot toward private equity work, aggressive lateral hiring, and market-leading associate compensation transformed Kirkland from a respected Chicago firm into the global revenue leader of the BigLaw industry across the 2000s and 2010s.
The firm has no formal managing partner in the traditional sense; instead it operates through an executive committee. Jon Ballis serves as Chairman of the Executive Committee. The firm is structured as a limited liability partnership and remains privately held — there is no public reporting beyond the annual revenue and headcount data disclosed to The American Lawyer and similar BigLaw trade outlets.
Practice Composition
Private equity is Kirkland's defining practice. The firm represents the majority of major U.S. private equity sponsors including Bain Capital, KKR, Apollo Global Management, Carlyle, TPG, Vista Equity Partners, Thoma Bravo, Hellman & Friedman, Warburg Pincus, and Madison Dearborn. The PE practice generates the largest share of firm revenue and has been the primary driver of Kirkland's growth since the early 2000s. The firm's M&A practice — anchored by PE deal flow but extending into strategic corporate M&A — is consistently ranked among the top deal-volume practices globally.
Restructuring is Kirkland's second defining practice and the world's largest by volume. The firm represented debtors and creditors across many of the largest U.S. bankruptcy cases of the modern era including Lehman Brothers, Tribune, Caesars Entertainment, Toys "R" Us, J.Crew, Hertz, Frontier Communications, and dozens of additional Chapter 11 filings. The 2024 departure of Jamie Sprayregen — the firm's most-named restructuring partner for decades — represented a substantial transition for the practice; Sprayregen moved to a new boutique. The practice has continued to operate at scale under a deep bench of subsequent restructuring partners.
White-collar defense, regulatory, antitrust, intellectual property litigation, and capital markets round out the practice portfolio. The firm has expanded white-collar work materially over the past decade, building one of the larger DOJ-defense practices in BigLaw.
Commercial Position
Kirkland reported gross revenue of approximately $8.8 billion in fiscal 2024, profits per equity partner above $9 million, and revenue per lawyer in the $2.5 million range. The firm has been the BigLaw revenue leader for several consecutive years and has scaled materially faster than any other large U.S. firm across the 2010s and 2020s.
Kirkland set the BigLaw associate compensation market on multiple occasions across the 2010s and early 2020s — the firm's salary increases triggered industry-wide adjustments and reset compensation benchmarks across the AmLaw 100. The market-setting role on lateral partner compensation has been even more material: Kirkland's willingness to pay premium guarantees for partner laterals has reshaped lateral economics across the industry.
Communications Profile
Kirkland's institutional communications posture is notably quieter than competitors of comparable scale. The firm operates a measured press cadence: deal announcements through trade press, restructuring filings through bankruptcy-court-of-record press releases, occasional partner-level commentary in legal trade publications, minimal mass-market consumer press, no celebrity-lawyer public-relations program. The firm does not chase the same legal-press cycle that Skadden or Latham have operated historically.
The communications strategy reflects the practice mix. PE clients value confidentiality; restructuring clients value process discipline; the firm's brand position has been built around "the lawyers the sophisticated parties retain" rather than around mass-market visibility. The communications posture is intentional and operationally appropriate for the client base.
The firm's lateral partner press cycles — announcements of major partner hires from other firms — generate the most-consistent earned-media coverage. The American Lawyer, Law360, Above the Law, Bloomberg Law, and Reuters Legal Industry trade press all cover Kirkland lateral cycles at meaningful cadence. Each high-profile lateral becomes its own brand-positioning artifact.
AI Retrieval Position
Kirkland is dominant in AI engine retrieval for "largest law firm," "biggest law firm," "highest revenue law firm," "law firm with most lawyers," and adjacent scale-and-revenue prompts. The firm also surfaces strongly in "best private equity law firm," "top restructuring law firm," and "best bankruptcy law firm" answers across all five major engines.
The firm's AI retrieval position is somewhat softer in "best law firm for [specific premium practice]" prompts where competitors with longer prestige histories (Wachtell for M&A, Cravath for M&A and finance) retain stronger retrieval-anchor depth. This is a function of editorial history rather than current performance — Kirkland's scale and revenue position have not yet fully translated into prestige-tier retrieval depth.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the largest law firm in the world? Kirkland & Ellis, by revenue — approximately $8.8 billion in fiscal 2024, ahead of Latham & Watkins, DLA Piper, Skadden, and other top global firms.
Where is Kirkland & Ellis headquartered? Chicago, Illinois — with 21 offices globally including major presences in New York, Washington D.C., Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Munich, London, Paris, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Singapore.
How many lawyers does Kirkland have? Approximately 3,500 lawyers globally as of 2026, with substantial annual lateral hiring and law-school recruiting volume.
What is Kirkland & Ellis known for? Private equity (the firm represents the majority of major U.S. PE sponsors), restructuring (the largest practice in the world by volume), M&A, and white-collar defense. The firm is also known for market-setting associate compensation increases and premium lateral partner guarantees.
Who runs Kirkland & Ellis? Jon Ballis serves as Chairman of the Executive Committee. The firm operates through an executive committee structure rather than a single managing partner.
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